Missing Alabama woman found dead in car - and more Chattanooga region news

Missing Alabama woman found dead in car - and more Chattanooga region news

July 9th, 2014by Staff Reports and Wire Service in Local Regional News

Missing Alabama woman found dead in car

ANNISTON, Ala. - Police say a body found inside a crashed car has been identified by medical examiners as that of a missing Anniston woman.

Anniston police Capt. Allen George said Tuesday investigators were awaiting a cause of death from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, which was conducting an autopsy in Huntsville. But George said all indications at the scene point to 45-year-old Margie Mize having died in a traffic accident.

Mize had been missing since June 24. Searchers found her car Monday along County Road 24, near the Cleburne County line.

Police said the car appeared to have left the road and struck a tree, then overturned in a wooded ravine. Mize's dog Katie was found alive in the area.

Cleveland Middle School teacher finalist for state honor

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - A sixth-grade teacher at Cleveland Middle School has been named a finalist for Tennessee's 2014-15 Teacher of the Year award.

Cecily Williams, 38, has taught at Cleveland Middle School for 13 years and has been a teacher for 16 years.

"I don't think anyone expects to be nominated for an award like this," Williams said.

Williams said she is especially honored because the award is peer nominated and she was voted for by fellow teachers.

"It's like an award for the whole school," said Mike Collier, principal at Cleveland Middle. "It will be hard for anyone to beat her on the state level."

Men steal $2,000 in hygiene items in Georgia

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - Police are trying to figure out why a trio of hygiene-minded thieves walked into a CVS pharmacy in Atlanta's northern suburbs and stole $2,000 in soap and other personal care items.

Authorities say the three men were filmed by surveillance cameras as they carried out the July 1 heist at a store in Sandy Springs, just north of Atlanta.

Sandy Springs police Sgt. Ron Momon told WSB-TV the men walked into the store and casually grabbed the items, then walked out past cashiers.

Koch brothers boost hopefuls

ATLANTA - The Koch brothers, mega-funders of conservative causes throughout the country, are writing some big checks in Georgia races this election year.

Their Wichita, Kan.-based oil, gas and textile conglomerate Koch Industries filed a report Monday showing it donated $65,000 on May 6 to state candidates and causes -- almost all Republicans. Of that, $50,000 went to a state GOP fund.

Since late October, it has contributed about $101,000 in Georgia, including $12,600 to Gov. Nathan Deal's re-election campaign, $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and $2,500 the day before the 2014 General Assembly session started to House Speaker David Ralston.